What a weekend.... Part Two

Well, after the excitement of our Anniversary evening, we managed to stretch it out to the next day when we went up to the Yarra Valley for the day with our good friends, Tony and Marie (of Sunday morning walk fame) - it is their anniversary exactly a week after ours and the same number of years, so the last several years we usually have some sort of joint celebration and lots of fun together.

So, what can I tell you about our day?  Well, the Yarra Valley wine region is heaven on a stick, especially for foodies and wine lovers.

We visited a dairy, two wineries (we had a delicious lunch at one and bought wine and freshly picked apples at the other), a gerbera farm (with llamas - not sure about the connection between gerberas and llamas!),  the White Rabbit brewery and the famous Beechworth Bakery.

Then on Sunday, Mother's Day, DD took me out to lunch and a movie "While we're young" and DS2 sent me some gorgeous flowers.

Do you want to see some pics?  Silly question, of course you do and I am going to show them to you anyway - lol!  Here they are in random order.....

So, in all a marvellous weekend, but very tiring!  In fact, when I got home on Sunday after the movie, I went to bed for a nap at 4.30 and then got up, had some soup and was back in bed by 8.30!

Too much gallivanting as my dear Mum would have said.

Anyway, it was just great being out and about with family and friends all weekend. However, this weekend is going to be much quieter. I plan to do lots of stitching, reading, visit my dear Dad and run a few, gentle errands.  How about all of your plans?

It is FNSI tonight, so the stitching will start tonight - you can sign up here.

Have fun everyone, my next post will be my GG post, so please come back to see what I have been doing.

hugs,

What a weekend! .... Part One

Well, this past weekend was megabusy but superfun!  It all started on Friday, which was TraderVic and my 33rd Wedding Anniversary!

Before I go any further, I should say that TraderVic is the best husband, father and friend that anyone could have and that I feel so lucky and blessed to be sharing my life with him.  I love him to bits!

Unfortunately, Friday was a workday so the celebrations could not begin until Friday night. But when I arrived home, TraderVic surprised me with this wonderful gift:

A beautiful teapot and two matching cups and saucers.  I had admired them in T2 several weeks back and TraderVic remembered and went back to buy them for me.  Aren't they just so gorgeous?

Then, we went out to dinner with our dear friends, Linda and Terry to the most fabulous Thai restaurant in Alphington: Paladarr Thai.

The decor was so interesting and the food was absolutely marvellous:

... and I will leave you with a photo of Linda and I trying to take a clever selfie!

Next post I will fill you in on the other exciting things I did on the rest of the weekend and I might even dig up a photo of TraderVic and I on our wedding day for you!

love to you all and lots of hugs,

Weekend Round up......

Oh, I think I ate too much this weekend!  It was all delicious, though!

It began on Friday lunchtime when I was able to have an unexpected lunch with DS2, who was down from Sydney and was working in the building opposite mine in Docklands!

So, I took him to a hidden gem of an Italian cafe in Docklands, called Caffe Bambino, very authentic Italian food and coffee.

Then, Friday night, we went to the HTC's production of The Three Sisters.  Extremely well done.  Beforehand our theatre group always goes to a Greek restaurant nearby called Byzantine, where I had the most delicious lamb dish.

Saturday night saw us at Madame Sousou again (we had been there a few months ago to celebrate my dear friend Marie's clean bill of health from her cancer), for a delicious French dinner to celebrate my very dearest friend, Kim's birthday.  She and I shared Chateaubriand and it was out of this world - the beef literally melted in your mouth.

Sunday morning was brunch with our daughter (poached eggs with aparagus wrapped in prosciutto).  Needless to say, TraderVic and I gave up eating for the rest of the weekend after all of this delicious food - lol!

However, there was some crafting going on, too.

I stitched a bit on my Pink version of "Counting" but I need really good light to stitch this one at the moment.  I also started Day 10 of my PS SAL with Linda, Santa's 12 Days of Christmas but there will be pics of those next time.

However, I did have a Happy Dance, I finished my ombre scarf!  

I am so thrilled with it!  It is bitterly cold here this morning and I am about to set off for work, so I will be toasty and warm this morning on the train platform!

Okay, have to dash, 

love 

Smalls SAL April update, plus, plus, plus....

... a Super Crafty Sunday and April Hallowe'en Ornie SAL update and a Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL update.  

Warning: Pic heavy and lots of stitching!

I had a super Sunday this weekend, in terms of being super productive that is.  I finished my  April Smalls SAL piece, my April Halloween Ornament plus some other finishing.

Let me show you....

First off the rank is, my Smalls SAL piece.

The Smalls SAL 2015 is hosted by the lovely Heather, from Stitching Lotus. On the last Wednesday of every month you sign into the sign in post on her blog, here and link to your Smalls SAL post. 

Basically, we....
"Stitch a small every month. You get to decide what a small is for you. 50×50 stitches? 100×100 stitches? It’s up to you."

This is my finish for April.
It is Tall Sheep (again!), slightly modified (again!) as I decided that the butterfly and the bee and flower buttons were going to make it too fussy.

I decided to be a bit adventurous in my finishing, so I hot glued some pretty ribbon to the front and the back and added an antique button to the top right corner.

I adore this backing fabric, I like to think that Miss Grace is the shepherdess of the Tall Sheep - lol!

Tall Sheep

Shepherd's Bush

28 ct Flax Linen

Mixture of CC and DMC threads.

Next up is my Halloweeen Ornie SAL, hosted by the wonderful Jo from Serendipitous Stitching.

Every month, a group of us post a Halloween Ornie based on that month's theme. April's theme was tombstones, can you see my tiny tombstones on the left hand side - a bit of a long bow re the theme but I just had to stitch that castle!

Happy Halloween

Freebie from La Comtesse de la pointe de croix

32 ct Belfast Linen 

Hand dyed "Evening Sky"

GAST Royal Purple

I have used this leftover quilt backing for the back.

You can check out everyone else's tombstones, here. 

Next month's theme is Pumpkins and I have already found a design I like from La Comtesse, so that is a good start.

Then I finished "Counting" as a long cushion for my Friends Swapaway.  I used the same leftover backing fabric for the front and back of the cushion.

Then, on Monday night I finished Day 9 of my Santa's 12 Days of Christmas SAL which I do every Sunday night with my lovely friend, Linda.

I think that Day 9 is my favourite Day so far.

On Sunday, I felt like Baking, as well, so I made some gorgeous peanut butter and choc chip cookies, named Outrageous cookies and some lentil soup - yum!

Earlier in the week, I had tried my hand at homemade crumpets.

Terribly fiddly to make but delicious with some blackberrry jam.

Lastly, I meant to show you my ANZAC biscuit tin last post.  Every year, Unibic, put out a limited edition tin of ANZAC biscuits for ANZAC day. The tins commemorate Australian soldiers in some way. This year reflects the 100 year anniversary of the Gallopoli landing.

Well, that is all from me, don't forget to follow the links to see what everyone else has been up to.  Maybe next post will see a pic of my finished scarf!

hugs,